Chapter IV
"Una, you know that I can make a tea for you." Di said when Una came into the living room of her very own Farm House with a tray in her hands and a light smile on her face.
"Oh, but I enjoy having guests in my own house and I love making tea for them, there's no problem Di." Una replied kindly and sat down in her chair next to the fireplace, putting her hand on her round stomach.
"Una, you are a real darling. But you musn't overwork yourself." Di told her decidedly, while sipping a tea from her cup.
Una waved her hand "I really don't overwork." she answered in her warm and calm voice "Shirley wouldn't allow me anyway. Not ever." she giggled like a little girl.
Di laughed as well "I'm quite sure that you're right." she agreed with her "Are you ready for the baby's arrival then? It's not long now." she raised her brow and her eyes started to glow.
Una blushed a little and then touched her growing stomach tenderly "Yes, March isn't so far away from December, is it?" she said.
"I can hardly believe that it's the last day of November." Di shook her head "It seems that just yesterday I went down to Rainbow Valley and walked together with Carl to Glen school for our first day as teachers." she sighed deeply and then grinned at the memory.
"Talking of Carl," Una crossed her arms slowly and put her feet in front of her "-I am very glad that you and him are such good friends ever since the summer has started." she touched Di's arm gently.
Di smiled at her and touched her small hand in return "I am very glad too." she replied "Now with all of you, my closest friends, married and whirled into your own small worlds, Carl is just the person with whom I can easily talk just as much as I used to talk with let's say you, or Nan."
Una nodded and smiled at Di again "You know, I think that you even changed Carl a little." she said a bit shyly.
Di's brows furrowed in surprise "Really? How so? For me he's just the same as he always was." she said.
"Well, the truth is that Carl always liked you the most of all of us." Una admitted and grinned at her sister-in-law "Although he was always shy to say so, as he was afraid that we would all think that he's in love with you. But now he just feels, he told me, that he has a friend he was always looking for." she smiled at Di radiantly, knowing that she was the happiness of her younger brother.
Di's eyes started to shine even more and she chuckled gladly "I am extremely joyful then, dearest Una!" she said to her "I've never thought that the 'staying in the corner and looking for bugs in the trees' Carl always liked me so much." she clasped her hands together "But I couldn't be more glad to have him as my friend. He's such a good friend and a collegue."
"To be honest I was quite afraid that he wouldn't find a friend, once he would come back from Redmond back to Glen." Una continued as she rocked herself in the chair "You know Carl, he's friendly, warm and kind but when it comes to making friends, he isn't the bravest one."
"Yes, but believe it or not, I'm quite similar." Di replied and then chuckled "Don't look so surprised, Una, that's true. I am open and friendly, but it's hard for me to really find someone who could be my kindred spirit, and Carl really is one of those special people who are close to my heart." she grinned at her sister-in-law who smiled back at her.
"Yes, it's good that you two have each other." Una agreed and Di's brows furrowed slightly as Una's voice sounded as if she was somewhere completely elsewhere with her thoughts.
Christmas 1922 came in a sound of a soft whisper, with the forever cold yet somehow burning snow lying everywhere and a freezeing wind blowing through everything it could reach. Ingleside was bombarded with people, and Susan's shoutings and fast movements around the kitchen with the helping "Mrs Dr dear", "Di dear", and Rosemary Meredith, could be heard in the whole house.
Everyone else was waiting for them in the living room, watching over the screaming kidlets of brown, black and red hair. Eventually Susan and her cooks came into the room with full trays of food in their hands and they invited everyone to the Christmas table.
Di looked around her while they all talked, joked and ate, having the time of their lives for which everyone was waiting for during the dark years of the war and sometimes failed in thinking that such wonderful day would come one day, and it did.
Di smiled, who would have thought that one can love their family so much? Each person around that Christams table was so close to everyone's hearts as if they knew each other since the beginning of time. Nan sat next to Di and Di was glad, she and her twin used to be the closest of friends but when Nan married Jerry and moved away from Ingleside and later became a mother, Di felt that she had been isolated from her dearest sister after all. She knew, on the day of Nan's wedding that their sisterhood would never be the same, simply because they wouldn't have enough time for each other as much as they once had. But nonetheless when they did talk, and outtalked gossips, their dreams, fears and doubts, they were as close as they had never been before.
It was so nice to have such a big family! How could Mother, Di thought to herself, live all of those thirteen years of her life without any family of her own? Now, she looked over at her red-headed Mother, she was smiling and holding each of grandchildren with tenderness and love swimming in her grey eyes, while being surrounded by her huge family.
After dinner, Faith stood up from her chair with a sleepy Julia in her arms in order to go upstairs to put her into her cot and to allow her to sleep. Di touched Faith's arm gently and whispered to her "I can go and put her to bed, Faith."
Faith smiled warmly and squeezed Di's hand "You darling," she said "- I would be very grateful." and Di slowly took Julia in her own arms and after smiling back at Faith reassuringly, she started walking upstairs to the room where the "reserve cots" were standing, and therefore she came into to the old room of Rilla.
Di loved putting her little nephews and nieces to bed, they looked like real angels when their heads were slowly going to the front and to the back and then to the front again and to the back once more, and with their eyes closing slowly as if they weighed like stones. Di held baby Julia and kissed her sleepy head, making her to look at Di with her hazel-eyes. Julia smiled at Di and giggled "What a happy baby you are aren't you, you little baby-girl?" Di whispered to her, slowly closing the door of the room, not to disturb the peacefulness and angelic atmosphere she entered.
Di laid Julia down in her arms so that her head was resting on Di's arm and she could rock her until the baby closed her eyes. A few seconds after Julia entered the world of dreams, and her small crimson lips slightly parted, a door opened noiselessly and Carl appeared in front of Di. "Susan wanted to say that she is waiting for you to serve the dessert." he whispered while sitting next to Di.
She smiled, still looking at the baby's sleeping face "I'll be back in a second." she whsipered and rocked the baby even though Julia was fast asleep already.
Carl sighed softly and grinned at the picture appearing in front of him. Di was a natural with small children, he hadn't noticed it before. And it seemed to him that Di looked as if she was holding a child of her own, with Julia whose fluffy locks spreading across her tiny head were just as red as Di's own hair.
"She's so sweet." Carl whispered and touched Julia's small hand "And so small, I'm always afraid that I will drop such a tiny baby while holding it."
Di looked at Carl finally and smiled wider "You wouldn't Carl." she said to him softly "And I agree, Julia really is sweet." she looked back at Julia and then raised from the chair to put her down to her bassinet but turned to Carl instead "Come on, be brave and put her to the cot." she winked at him and Carl looked at her blankly.
"I will try." he said eventually and took Julia very carefully in his arms "Good Lord, she's really small." he said and Di chuckled at his serious face. Carl put Julia in the cot as slowly as a man could possibly do it and then turned to Di and put hands on his hips "There you go, Miss Blythe." he said and raised his eyebrow in a funny way, making Di to laugh.
"I'm impressed, Carl." she said as the two of them closed the door of the room and started walking down the hall back to the stairs.
"Are you? You thought that I wasn't good with children?" he asked her.
Di humphed "No." she said and when Carl looked at her worriedly, she laughed „Of course I think that you are good with children, you silly, I'm just playing with you." she said and Carl nudged her on the side, laughing too.
"Oh, Di, you are an irresistible monster sometimes." he said to her, emphasising the word "irresistable" so much that Di could feel how her cheeks turned positively red, although she couldn't find the answer to a question why?.
"Oh, please be open!" Di murmured under her nose, springing towards the post office, trying to forget about the snow blowing into her crimson face. Di offered her Mother that she would send her letters to Aunt Leslie just one day before the New Years' Eve, the nice and kind person that she is, but Di regreted her idea as the snow blowing in her face really wasn't a help and the long coat she wore on that day, which she put on ever so hurriedly to catch the post office still open, had to be held by her at the ends as it could easily cause Di to fall on the ground if she didn't.
Di sighed with relief when she saw a light in the window of the post office and slowed down, catching her breath. She came into the post office and Mrs Inman, who worked there and knew Di since the day she first entered the post office as a little girl, smiled at Di and immediately grabbed a package lying next to the tall cupboard "You're in luck, Miss Blythe." she said sweetly "I was just about to close the office."
Di chuckled weakly and took the package from Mrs Inman's hands "Thank you, Mrs Inman," she replied "-I think that if I had to go back to Ingleside without having all the letters sent, I would sit on the ground and cry my eyes out." and she made Mrs Inman laugh.
"I see that your mother got another package from Mrs Ford? She's in Italy, isn't she?" she said, looking at the front of the package.
Di nodded and smiled "Yes, Aunt Leslie and Uncle Owen went on their "second honeymoon" as they described it, and decided on the ancient land of Rome." she answered with a sound of dreaminess in her voice "Well, here are the letters from Mother to Aunt Leslie." she took out of her pocket three letters addressed to a certain Leslie Ford in Rome, Italy "I will come back in a few days time when Mother will write more letters, and there's no doubt about that." she grinned at Mrs Inman and tucked the package underneath her coat, before going back outside.
Di started walking down the road which was again covered by the incredible amount of snow. She suddenly heard someone's footsteps creeping from behind her and she started walking faster as she was never comfortable with someone walking behind her, especially in the dark. All of a sudden, before she could do anything, someone grabbed her arm and caused her to stop, and she felt almost as if she was paralysed with fear but it wasn't necessary at all. "Di? Is that you?"
Di turned around to the fammiliar voice and her green eyes widened with surprise and gladness upon the man she was in front of. "Robert Keats! You gave me the fright of my life!" she exclaimed and put her arms around his neck.
Robert Keats was the old Redmond-friend of Di's. He used to walk her back to her "home" after each day at the college, and their friendship blossomed. It never faded, not really, Di was always in touch with him by writing letters, but they never met each other face-to-face after finishing Redmond as Robert lived in Ottawa. And then, there he was standing in front of her! She missed him, she remembered how much he helped her to get through Walter's death or when she couldn't get the grades she was aiming for. Only then she realised how tall and how handsome he really was. Every girl at Redmond used be head over heels for him, but she never knew why. She knew now. Robert was a tall and handosme man of twenty eight with broad shoulders, pointy chin, coal-black eyes, dark blonde hair and a cheeky smile. Apart from that, he was always dressed in a very elegant way, and he alwyas walked with a soft air of poetry and music surrounding him, and Di always knew this small fact which she really loved about him.
"Then I must sincerely apologise, Di." Robert said gently and touched her arm, as if to check that she really was standing in front of him.
"What are you doing here?" Di chuckled and squeezed his hand "You never told me that you're going to Glen!"
Robert laughed at her reaction "I wanted to make you a surprise." he explained "I opened a company here in Glen with my other friend, Chris, you remember him, don't you?"
Di's eyes widened even more and she clung to his arm with excitement "Of course I do, but Robert!" she smiled at him "You are going to live here now? And as a real architect?" she asked him.
"Yes, I live in a small apartment just over there." he pointed at the dark building right behind the building of the post office "And yes, I am a real architect now. At least I'm trying to be. I was meant to call on you tomorrow, for the New Years' Eve." he said and a mischievous smile appeared on his mouth again.
"Oh, I'm so glad, Robert!" Di exclaimed again "We are neighbours now!"
He chucled again "Yes, we are." he agreed "I would invite you for a cup of coffee but I assume that you're in a hurry?" he asked her, with a bit of hopefulness in his voice.
Di shook her head "Unfortunately I am in a hurry, Mother will worry where I am so I suppose that I have to run back home now." she patted his hand which was still in her own "Would you like to come for New Years' Eve to Ingleside tomorrow?" she asked him expectantly.
Robert's black eyes started to glow "I would love that." he replied happily "I can't wait to talk to you properly, after so many years." he winked at her knoiwngly.
Di punched him playfully in the arm "It was just six years ago." she said to him "We're not so old... yet." and she and Robert laughed together.
"Quite true." he said to her.
"I must go now, Robert." Di said again and kissed his cheek quickly "I will see you tomorrow then?" she asked rather hopefully.
Robert lowered down to her ear "And even after tomorrow if you'll allow me." he whispered and Di's cheeks flushed with bright red.
"I'd like that very much, yes." she replied blankly "Goodnight." she said eventually.
Robert, to her surprise, leaned down to kiss her cheek in return "Goodnight, mademoiselle." he said in his old 'Robertish' way and winked at her, before Di smiled at him again and turned around to walk back to the Inglside.
"Why am I breathing so heavily?" she asked herself, clinging to the package underneath her coat "Diana Blythe, don't you dare fall in love!" she hissed to herself and was almost sure that she started thinking about something which wasn't connected to Robert Keats but when she finally reached Ingleside, she couldn't remember what it was.